Exchanging ranging and location information among peer-to-peer devices

ABSTRACT

In some embodiments, a first user device may synchronize a time associated with a second user device. The first user device may generate a neighbor awareness network (NAN) service discovery frame. The first user device may transmit the NAN service discovery frame to the second user device. The first user device may receive a request frame from the second user device based at least in part on transmitting the NAN service discovery frame, wherein the request frame comprises a request for ranging or location information from the first user device. The first user device may receive a NAN service discovery frame from the second user device, wherein the NAN service discovery frame comprises a request for ranging or location information from the first user device. The first user device may transmit a response frame comprising the ranging or location information in response to the received request frame.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/575,664, filed Dec. 18, 2014, which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/085,970, entitled “ExchangingRanging and Location Information Among Peer-to-Peer Device,” filed onDec. 1, 2014, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein byreference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for exchangingranging and location information among peer-to-peer devices.

BACKGROUND

User devices, such as phones and tablets, have become increasinglymobile and have an increased capability to be connected to the Internetfrom many different places. User devices are able to communicate withother user devices by utilizing different technologies, such as wirelessnetworks, cellular networks, peer-to-peer networks and the like. In manyof the technologies, a user device may connect to or through a centraldevice, such as a cellular tower or remote server and may obtaininformation through the central device. However, such an architecturemay increase the cost in efficiency in the exchange of data between userdevices and may increase network traffic.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description is set forth with reference to the accompanyingdrawings. The use of the same reference numerals indicates similar oridentical components or elements; however, different reference numeralsmay be used as well to indicate components or elements which may besimilar or identical. Various embodiments of the disclosure may utilizeelements and/or components other than those illustrated in the drawings,and some elements and/or components may not be present in variousembodiments. Depending on the context, singular terminology used todescribe an element or a component may encompass a plural number of suchelements or components and vice versa.

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative data flow between various components ofan illustrative system architecture for exchanging ranging and locationdata among peer-to-peer devices in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram including various hardware and softwarecomponents of the illustrative system architecture depicted in FIG. 1 inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a data flow diagram of an illustrative method for exchangingranging and location data among peer-to-peer devices in accordance withone or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a data flow diagram of an illustrative method for exchangingranging and location data among peer-to-peer devices using peer-to-peerconnections in accordance with one or more embodiments of thedisclosure.

FIG. 5 is a data flow diagram of an illustrative method for exchangingranging and location data among peer-to-peer devices using fine timingmeasurement techniques in accordance with one or more embodiments of thedisclosure.

FIG. 6 is a process flow diagram of an illustrative method forexchanging ranging and location data among peer-to-peer devices inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This disclosure relates to, among other things, systems, methods,computer-readable media, techniques and methodology for exchangingranging and location data among peer-to-peer user devices. By utilizinga neighbor awareness network (NAN), users of NAN-enabled user device maybe able to meet new people, discover other nearby user device(s) and/orservice(s) and interact with them and their locally relevant content. Byproviding a mechanism for user device(s) to discover other userdevice(s) and/or service(s) in close proximity through the NAN, usersmay be provided a more engaging and interactive experience without thetime or processing delay that may occur through proximity-baseddiscovery and networking techniques that utilize central stations orother types of central processing and network management.

In some embodiments, a NAN-enabled device may broadcast a discoverybeacon frame. The discovery beacon frame may contain data that indicateswhen a discovery window. A discovery window may be a time slot at whichuser devices may communicate with each other for discovery andexchanging of data. Nearby NAN-enabled user devices may receive thediscovery beacon frame and may exchange synchronization beacon frameswith the NAN-enabled user device that broadcast the discovery beaconframe to ensure time synchronization between the devices. Thesynchronization beacon frames may be sent during the advertiseddiscovery window indicated in the discovery beacon frames. After thedevices have synchronized their time, one of the NAN-enabled userdevice(s) may transmit a request frame to another NAN-enabled requestingranging and/or location information of the receiving user device.Location information may indicate a specific geographic location of auser device whereas ranging information may indicate an approximatedistance of a user device from the requesting user device. The userdevice that receives the request may transmit the ranging and/orlocation data in the form of a response frame. In some embodiments, thedata may be transmitted using fine timing measurement (FTM) techniques.In some embodiments, the ranging and/or location data may be transmittedin over a peer-to-peer connection between devices that become aware ofeach other via the NAN.

In some embodiments, ranging data and/or location data information maybe transmitted before or after association and authentication betweenNAN-enabled user devices. In some embodiments, location and/or rangingrequest and response frames may be transmitted with encryption orunprotected, based at least in part on security and privacy requirementsand policies of the user devices. In some embodiments, the ranging andlocation information of user devices may be transmitted in the channelsand time slots that are indicated in the further Service DiscoveryAvailability attributes transmitted within the NAN service discoveryframe. In some embodiments, the request and response frames may bedefined as public action frames. For example, they may be WFA vendorspecific actions frames or a peer-to-peer action frame.

Various illustrative embodiments have been discussed above. These andother example embodiments of the disclosure will be described in moredetail hereinafter through reference to the accompanying drawings. Thedrawings and the corresponding description are provided merely forillustration and are not intended to limit the disclosure in any way. Itshould be appreciated that numerous other embodiments, variations, andso forth are within the scope of this disclosure.

Illustrative Use Cases and System Architecture

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative architecture 100 of various components ofa system for exchanging ranging and location information amongpeer-to-peer user devices in accordance with one or more embodiments ofthe disclosure. Multiple user device(s) 105A-105E (collectively 105)communicative over one or more network(s) 110 in a neighbor awarenessnetwork (NAN) are illustratively depicted in FIG. 1. If multiple userdevice(s) 105 are connected through a NAN, they may be referred to as aNAN cluster. The user device(s) 105 may communicate with other userdevice(s) in a NAN to exchange ranging and/or location information. Insome embodiments, location information may be data that indicates ageographic location of a user device 105. In some embodiments, ranginginformation may be data that indicates the distance between two userdevice(s) 105. In some embodiments, the user device(s) 105 may utilize aNAN service discovery frame to look for services from other NAN-enableduser device(s) and make services discoverable for other NAN-enabled userdevice(s) 105. In some embodiments, NAN service discovery frames mayinclude PUBLISH and SUBSCRIBE messages. In some embodiments, PUBLISH andSUBSCRIBE are NAN service capabilities and functions. In someembodiments, a PUBLISH message in a NAN service discovery frame makesits service discoverable by other NAN-enabled user device(s) 105operating in the same NAN cluster in an unsolicited manner. This processmay be referred to as unsolicited discovery. A PUBLISH message may betransmitted as solicited or unsolicited. A PUBLISH instance may beconfigured as “Solicited Only,” where a PUBLISH message may betransmitted only in response to a received request, “Unsolicited Only,”where a PUBLISH message may be transmitted to any user device 105 in theNAN cluster capable of receiving the message, or “Solicited andUnsolicited,” which is a combination of both.

In some embodiments, a SUBSCRIBE instance may be configured to operateeither in a passive mode or active mode. In some embodiments, aSUBSCRIBE instance may process received PUBLISH messages. In someembodiments, SUBSCRIBE message may be transmitted in active mode. Insome embodiments, a SUBSCRIBE message within a NAN service discoveryframe may be used to actively solicit availability of specific servicesfrom other NAN-enabled user device(s) 105. For example, NAN-enabled userdevice 105A may broadcast a NAN service discovery frame to the otheruser device(s) 105B-105E to request that user device(s) 105 to transmita NAN service discovery frame with a PUBLISH message when responsecriteria are met. This may be known as solicited discovery. A mechanismfor a user application to gather selected types of information aboutcapabilities and services of other NAN Devices.

In one embodiment, the request and response frames for ranging and/orlocation information of user device(s) may utilize the P2P Public Actionframe format or any WFA vendor specific action frame format. If therequest and response frames use the P2P public action frame format, theOUI subtype may be set to a pre-determined value to uniquely identify afine timing measurement (FTM) request frame or FTM response framerespectively. Table 1 indicates an exemplary frame format.

TABLE 1 Example Frame Format in a NAN Size Value Field (octets)(Hexadecimal) Description Category 1 0x04 IEEE 802.11 public actionusage. Action field 1 0x09 IEEE 802.11 vendor specific usage. OUI 3 506F 9A WFA specific OUI. OUI type 1 0x09 (to be Identifying the type orversion of action assigned) frame. Setting to 09 indicates WFA P2P v1.0.OUI Subtype 1 Identifying the type of P2P public action frame. DialogToken 1 Set to a nonzero value to identify the request/responsetransaction. Elements variable Including P2P IE or any informationelements defined in IEEE Std 802.11-2007 [1].

In some embodiments, the Elements filed of the request frame may includethe ranging request attribute, the location civic request attribute,and/or the location identifier request attribute. Table 2 and Table 3depict example request and response frame format attributes.

TABLE 2 Example request frame attribute format Size Field (octets)Description Attribute ID 1 Identifies the type of attribute. Length 2Length of the following fields in the attribute. Randomization 2 TheRandomization Interval field specifies the upper bound of the randomdelay to be used prior to making the measurement, expressed in units ofTUs. Minimum 1 The Minimum Device Count field specifies the Device Countnumber of fine timing measurement ranges between the requested deviceand the devices listed Device Address List Entry. If Minimum DeviceCount is 0, the Ranging Report the Requested device and the Requestingdevice must be reported. Device Entry variable The Device List is a listof 6 Octets of MAC address.

TABLE 3 Example response frame attribute format Size Field (octets)Description Attribute ID 1 Identifies the type of attribute. Length 2Length of the following fields in the attribute. Ranging 1 The RangeEntry Count field indicates the number Entry Count of Range Entry fieldsRange Entry M × 16 As defined in 802.11mc - D3.0. BSSID shall bereplaced by Device address. Measurement Start Time shall be replaced byNAN cluster TSF. Error Entry 1 The Error Entry Count field indicates thenumber Count of Error Entry fields Error Entry N × 11 As defined in802.11mc - D3.0. BSSID shall be replaced by Device address. MeasurementStart Time shall be replaced by NAN cluster TSF.

The user device(s) 105 may include any suitable processor-drivencomputing device capable of WiFi and non-WiFi access, including, but notlimited to, tablet computing devices, electronic book (e-book) readers,netbook computers, notebook computers, laptop computers, Ultrabook™computers, personal digital assistants (PDA), smart phones, web-enabledtelevisions, video game consoles, set top boxes (STB), digital videorecorder (DVR) systems, combinations thereof, or the like. For ease ofexplanation, the user device(s) 105 may be described herein in thesingular; however, it should be appreciated that multiple user device(s)105 may be provided.

Any of the user device(s) 105 may be configured to communicate with eachother via one or more network(s) 110. The network(s) 110 may include,but are not limited to, any one or a combination of different types ofsuitable communications networks such as, for example, cable networks,public networks (e.g., the Internet), private networks, wirelessnetworks, cellular networks, or any other suitable private and/or publicnetworks. Further, the network(s) 110 may have any suitablecommunication range associated therewith and may include, for example,global networks (e.g., the Internet), metropolitan area networks (MANs),wide area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), wireless personalarea networks (WPANs), or personal area networks (PANs). In addition,the network(s) 110 may include any type of medium over which networktraffic may be carried including, but not limited to, coaxial cable,twisted-pair wire, optical fiber, a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) medium,microwave terrestrial transceivers, radio frequency communicationmediums, satellite communication mediums, or any combination thereof.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an illustrative user device 200that may be used to perform any of the data processing and user deviceconfiguration described herein in accordance with one or more exampleembodiments of the disclosure. In an illustrative configuration, theuser device 200 may include one or more processors (processor(s)) 202,one or more memory devices 206 (generically referred to herein as memory206), one or more input/output (“I/O”) interface(s) 208, one or morenetwork interfaces 210, and data storage 204. The user device 200 mayfurther include one or more buses 212 that functionally couple variouscomponents of the user device 200. In certain example embodiments, theuser device 200 may be a mobile device that may include one or moreantennas (not shown) including, without limitation, a cellular antennafor transmitting or receiving signals to/from a cellular networkinfrastructure, an antenna for transmitting or receiving Wi-Fi signalsto/from an access point (AP), a Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS) antenna for receiving GNSS signals from a GNSS satellite, aBluetooth antenna for transmitting or receiving Bluetooth signals, aNear Field Communication (NFC) antenna for transmitting or receiving NFCsignals, and so forth. These various components will be described inmore detail hereinafter.

The bus(es) 212 may include at least one of a system bus, a memory bus,an address bus, or a message bus, and may permit exchange of information(e.g., data (including computer-executable code), signaling, etc.)between various components of the user device 200. The bus(es) 212 mayinclude, without limitation, a memory bus or a memory controller, aperipheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, and so forth. The bus(es)212 may be associated with any suitable bus architecture including,without limitation, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), a MicroChannel Architecture (MCA), an Enhanced ISA (EISA), a Video ElectronicsStandards Association (VESA) architecture, an Accelerated Graphics Port(AGP) architecture, a Peripheral Component Interconnects (PCI)architecture, a PCI-Express architecture, a Personal Computer MemoryCard International Association (PCMCIA) architecture, a Universal SerialBus (USB) architecture, and so forth.

The memory 206 of the user device 200 may include volatile memory(memory that maintains its state when supplied with power) such asrandom access memory (RAM) and/or non-volatile memory (memory thatmaintains its state even when not supplied with power) such as read-onlymemory (ROM), flash memory, ferroelectric RAM (FRAM), and so forth. Incertain example embodiments, volatile memory may enable fasterread/write access than non-volatile memory. However, in certain otherexample embodiments, certain types of non-volatile memory (e.g., FRAM)may enable faster read/write access than certain types of volatilememory.

In various implementations, the memory 206 may include multipledifferent types of memory such as various types of static random accessmemory (SRAM), various types of dynamic random access memory (DRAM),various types of unalterable ROM, and/or writeable variants of ROM suchas electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flashmemory, and so forth. The memory 206 may include main memory as well asvarious forms of cache memory such as instruction cache(s), datacache(s), translation lookaside buffer(s) (TLBs), and so forth. Further,cache memory such as a data cache may be a multi-level cache organizedas a hierarchy of one or more cache levels (L1, L2, etc.).

The data storage 204 may include removable storage and/or non-removablestorage including, but not limited to, magnetic storage, optical diskstorage, solid-state storage, and/or tape storage. The data storage 204may provide non-volatile storage of computer-executable instructions andother data. The memory 206 and the data storage 204, removable and/ornon-removable, are examples of computer-readable storage media (CRSM) asthat term is used herein.

The data storage 204 may store computer-executable code, instructions,or the like that may be loadable into the memory 206 and executable bythe processor(s) 202 to cause the processor(s) 202 to perform orinitiate various operations. The data storage 204 may additionally storedata that may be copied to memory 206 for use by the processor(s) 202during the execution of the computer-executable instructions. Moreover,output data generated as a result of execution of thecomputer-executable instructions by the processor(s) 202 may be storedinitially in memory 206, and may ultimately be copied to data storage204 for non-volatile storage.

More specifically, the data storage 204 may store one or more operatingsystems (O/S) 214; one or more database management systems (DBMS) 216;and one or more program modules, applications, or the like such as, forexample, one or more application(s) 218, one or more NAN discoveryengine(s) 220, and/or more media access control (MAC) with NAN supportmodule(s) 222. The data storage 204 may further store any of variety ofother types of modules. Further, any program modules stored in the datastorage 204 may include one or more sub-modules. Further, any datastored in the data storage 204 may be loaded into the memory 606 for useby the processor(s) 202 in executing computer-executable code. Inaddition, any data potentially stored in one or more datastores 224(e.g., user data 226) may be accessed via the DBMS 216 and loaded in thememory 206 for use by the processor(s) 202 in executingcomputer-executable code.

The processor(s) 202 may be configured to access the memory 206 andexecute computer-executable instructions loaded therein. For example,the processor(s) 202 may be configured to execute computer-executableinstructions of the various program modules of the user device 200 tocause or facilitate various operations to be performed in accordancewith one or more embodiments of the disclosure. The processor(s) 202 mayinclude any suitable processing unit capable of accepting data as input,processing the input data in accordance with stored computer-executableinstructions, and generating output data. The processor(s) 202 mayinclude any type of suitable processing unit including, but not limitedto, a central processing unit, a microprocessor, a Reduced InstructionSet Computer (RISC) microprocessor, a Complex Instruction Set Computer(CISC) microprocessor, a microcontroller, an Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), aSystem-on-a-Chip (SoC), a digital signal processor (DSP), and so forth.Further, the processor(s) 202 may have any suitable microarchitecturedesign that includes any number of constituent components such as, forexample, registers, multiplexers, arithmetic logic units, cachecontrollers for controlling read/write operations to cache memory,branch predictors, or the like. The microarchitecture design of theprocessor(s) 202 may be capable of supporting any of a variety ofinstruction sets.

Referring now to functionality supported by the various program modulesdepicted in FIG. 2, the application(s) 218 may includecomputer-executable instructions, code, or the like that, responsive toexecution by one or more of the processor(s) 202, may obtain data,process and/or generate data, and present data to a user of the userdevice 200. In some embodiments, the application(s) 218 may utilizeranging data and/or location data of other user devices 105 to process,generate, and/or present data to a user of the user device 200. In someembodiments, the ranging data and/or location data of other usedevice(s) 200 may be obtained via the neighbor awareness network methodsdescribed herein.

The NAN discovery engine(s) 220 may include computer-executableinstructions, code, or the like that, responsive to execution by one ormore of the processor(s) 202, may provide publish and subscribe servicesto application(s) 218 for service discovery purposes. Additionally, theNAN discovery engine(s) may generate and/or facilitate transmission ofdifferent type of frames in a NAN environment, such as NAN servicediscovery frames, discovery beacon frames, synchronization beaconframes, and the like.

The MAC with NAN support module(s) 222 may include computer-executableinstructions, code, or the like that, responsive to execution by one ormore of the processor(s) 202, may provide the means for NAN-enabled userdevice(s) 105 to synchronize in time and frequency to provide commonavailability periods for service discovery frames from/to the NANdiscovery engine(s) 222. The MAC with NAN support module 222 may provideaddressing and channel access control mechanisms that make it possiblefor NAN-enabled user device(s) 105 to communicate within a multipleaccess network that incorporates a shared medium, such as Ethernet. Insome embodiments, the MAC with NAN support module(s) 222 may coordinatecommunication of NAN frames (e.g., discovery beacon frames,synchronization beacon frames, service discovery frames, etc.) to otherNAN-enabled user device(s) 105 and manage time and frequency dataassociated with the NAN environment in a cluster of NAN-enabled userdevice(s) 105.

Referring now to other illustrative components depicted as being storedin the data storage 204, the O/S 214 may be loaded from the data storage204 into the memory 206 and may provide an interface between otherapplication software executing on the device 200 and hardware resourcesof the device 200. More specifically, the O/S 214 may include a set ofcomputer-executable instructions for managing hardware resources of thedevice 200 and for providing common services to other applicationprograms (e.g., managing memory allocation among various applicationprograms). The O/S 214 may include any operating system now known orwhich may be developed in the future including, but not limited to, anyserver operating system, any mainframe operating system, or any otherproprietary or non-proprietary operating system.

The DBMS 216 may be loaded into the memory 206 and may supportfunctionality for accessing, retrieving, storing, and/or manipulatingdata stored in the memory 206, data stored in the data storage 204,and/or data stored in the one or more datastores 224. The DBMS 216 mayuse any of a variety of database models (e.g., relational model, objectmodel, etc.) and may support any of a variety of query languages. TheDBMS 216 may access data represented in one or more data schemas andstored in any suitable data repository including, but not limited to,databases (e.g., relational, object-oriented, etc.), file systems, flatfiles, distributed datastores in which data is stored on more than onenode of a computer network, peer-to-peer network datastores, or thelike. In those example embodiments in which the user device 200 is amobile device, the DBMS 216 may be any suitable light-weight DBMSoptimized for performance on a mobile device. Referring to the exampletypes of data depicted as being stored in the datastore(s) 224, the userdata 226 may include kind of data associated with a specific user device200, such as user preferences, application data generated by one or moreapplication(s) 218 and associated with a user of the user device 200,etc. It should be appreciated that “data,” as that term is used herein,includes computer-executable instructions, code, or the like.

Referring now to other illustrative components of the device 200, theone or more input/output (I/O) interfaces 208 may facilitate the receiptof input information by the device 200 from one or more I/O devices aswell as the output of information from the device 200 to the one or moreI/O devices. The I/O devices may include any of a variety of componentssuch as a display or display screen having a touch surface ortouchscreen; an audio output device for producing sound, such as aspeaker; an audio capture device, such as a microphone; an image and/orvideo capture device, such as a camera; a haptic unit; and so forth. Anyof these components may be integrated into the device 200 or may beseparate. The I/O devices may further include, for example, any numberof peripheral devices such as data storage devices, printing devices,and so forth.

The I/O interface(s) 208 may also include an interface for an externalperipheral device connection such as universal serial bus (USB),FireWire, Thunderbolt, Ethernet port or other connection protocol thatmay connect to one or more networks. The I/O interface(s) 208 may alsoinclude a connection to one or more antennas to connect to one or morenetworks via a wireless local area network (WLAN) (such as Wi-Fi) radio,Bluetooth, and/or a wireless network radio, such as a radio capable ofcommunication with a wireless communication network such as a Long TermEvolution (LTE) network, WiMAX network, 3G network, etc.

The user device 200 may further include one or more network interfaces210 via which the user device 200 may communicate with any of a varietyof other systems, platforms, networks, devices, and so forth. Suchcommunication may occur via one or more networks including, but are notlimited to, any one or more different types of communications networkssuch as, for example, cable networks, public networks (e.g., theInternet), private networks (e.g., frame-relay networks), wirelessnetworks, cellular networks, telephone networks (e.g., a public switchedtelephone network), or any other suitable private or publicpacket-switched or circuit-switched networks. Further, such network(s)may have any suitable communication range associated therewith and mayinclude, for example, global networks (e.g., the Internet), metropolitanarea networks (MANs), wide area networks (WANs), local area networks(LANs), or personal area networks (PANs). In addition, such network(s)may include communication links and associated networking devices (e.g.,link-layer switches, routers, etc.) for transmitting network trafficover any suitable type of medium including, but not limited to, coaxialcable, twisted-pair wire (e.g., twisted-pair copper wire), opticalfiber, a hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) medium, a microwave medium, a radiofrequency communication medium, a satellite communication medium, or anycombination thereof.

Any of the user device(s) 105 may include one or more communicationsantennae (not pictured). Communications antenna may be any suitable typeof antenna corresponding to the communications protocols used by theuser device(s) 105. Some non-limiting examples of suitablecommunications antennas include Wi-Fi antennas, IEEE 802.11 family ofstandards compatible antennas, directional antennas, non-directionalantennas, dipole antennas, folded dipole antennas, patch antennas,multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, or the like. Thecommunications antenna may be communicatively coupled to a radiocomponent to transmit and/or receive signals, such as communicationssignals to and/or from the user devices 105.

Any of the user device(s) 105 may include transmit/receive (transceiver)or radio components may include any suitable radio and/or transceiverfor transmitting and/or receiving radio frequency (RF) signals in thebandwidth and/or channels corresponding to the communications protocolsutilized by any of the user device(s) 105 to communicate with eachother. The radio components may include hardware and/or software tomodulate and/or demodulate communications signals according topre-established transmission protocols. The radio components may furtherhave hardware and/or software instructions to communicate via one ormore Wi-Fi and/or Wi-Fi direct protocols, as standardized by theInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11standards. In certain example embodiments, the radio component, incooperation with the communications antennas, may be configured tocommunicate via 2.4 GHz channels (e.g. 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n), 5 GHzchannels (e.g. 802.11n, 802.11ac), or 60 GHZ channels (e.g. 802.11ad).In some embodiments, non-Wi-Fi protocols may be used for communicationsbetween devices, such as Bluetooth, dedicated short-range communication(DSRC), or other packetized radio communications. The radio componentmay include any known receiver and baseband suitable for communicatingvia the communications protocols. The radio component may furtherinclude a low noise amplifier (LNA), additional signal amplifiers, ananalog-to-digital (A/D) converter, one or more buffers, and digitalbaseband.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that any of thecomponents of the architecture 200 may include alternate and/oradditional hardware, software or firmware components beyond thosedescribed or depicted without departing from the scope of thedisclosure. More particularly, it should be appreciated that software,firmware or hardware components depicted or described as forming part ofany of the illustrative components of the architecture 200, and theassociated functionality that such components support, are merelyillustrative and that some components may not be present or additionalcomponents may be provided in various embodiments. While various programmodules have been depicted and described with respect to variousillustrative components of the architecture 200, it should beappreciated that functionality described as being supported by theprogram modules may be enabled by any combination of hardware, software,and/or firmware. It should further be appreciated that each of theabove-mentioned modules may, in various embodiments, represent a logicalpartitioning of supported functionality. This logical partitioning isdepicted for ease of explanation of the functionality and may not berepresentative of the structure of software, firmware and/or hardwarefor implementing the functionality. Accordingly, it should beappreciated that functionality described as being provided by aparticular module may, in various embodiments, be provided at least inpart by one or more other modules. Further, one or more depicted modulesmay not be present in certain embodiments, while in other embodiments,additional modules not depicted may be present and may support at leasta portion of the described functionality and/or additionalfunctionality. Further, while certain modules may be depicted anddescribed as sub-modules of another module, in certain embodiments, suchmodules may be provided as independent modules.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the illustrativenetworked architecture 200 is provided by way of example only. Numerousother operating environments, system architectures, and deviceconfigurations are within the scope of this disclosure. Otherembodiments of the disclosure may include fewer or greater numbers ofcomponents and/or devices and may incorporate some or all of thefunctionality described with respect to the illustrative architecture200, or additional functionality.

Illustrative Data and Process Flows

FIG. 3 is a data flow diagram of an illustrative method 300 forexchanging ranging and location data among peer-to-peer devices inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. User device105A may be a PUBLISHER and user device 105B may be a SUBSCRIBER. Userdevice(s) 105A and 105B may be in communication in a NAN where one orboth of the user device(s) broadcast a discovery beacon frame toadvertise the presence of a NAN cluster. In some embodiments, thediscovery beacon frames may be broadcast at periodic intervals so thatdiscovery by other NAN-enabled user device(s) 105 may be through passivescanning. In some embodiments, the discovery beacon frames may beinclude discovery window timing information. A discovery window may be atime slot at which NAN-enabled user device(s) 105 may communicate witheach other for discovery and exchanging of data.

At exchanges 305A and 305B, the MAC 222A of user device 105A and the MAC222B of user device 105B may broadcast and receive respectivesynchronization beacon frames. In some embodiments, the synchronizationbeacon frames may be used to ensure time synchronization within a NANcluster. In some embodiments, synchronization beacon frames may betransmitted during a discovery window of the NAN cluster.

At exchange 310, one or more application(s) 218A may transmit a messageto the MAC 222A to advertise or publish a service available on userdevice 105A. At exchange 315, one or more applications(s) 218B maytransmit a message to the MAC 222B to find a specific service based onone or more specified criteria. At exchange 320, NAN service discoveryframes may be exchanged between user device 105A and 105B. In someembodiments, the subscriber (e.g., user device 105B) may be in activemode and solicit services by broadcasting a NAN service discovery frameto solicit services.

At exchange 325, the MAC module 222A may receive NAN service discoveryframe from 105B and may perform local matching (e.g., service identifiermatching, comparing specified criteria from the request tocharacteristics of the available service) to identify whether theservices requested by the user device 105B match the services availableon user device 105A.

At exchange 330, the MAC 222B may transmit an indication to the one ormore requesting application(s) 218B the results obtained from thePUBLISH message received from user device 105A in response to theSUBSCRIBE message from user device 105B. At exchange 335, the MAC 222Bmay request ranging and/or location data from user device 105A bytransmitting a request frame. At exchange 340, the MAC 222A may providethe requested ranging and/or location data in a response frame. In someembodiments, the request and response frames may be transmitted in thechannels and timeslots that are indicated in the Further ServiceDiscovery Availability attribute in the NAN service discovery frame ofexchange 320. User device 105B may transmit the FTM ranging requestframe in the availability indicated by the requesting device (e.g., userdevice 105B).

In some embodiments, the data exchanged between user device 105A and105B are unprotected or unencrypted. In some embodiments, the requestand response frames may be transmitted with protection (e.g.,encryption) or plain text, which depends on the security policiesassociated with the user device(s) 105A, 105B.

FIG. 4 is a data flow diagram of an illustrative method 400 forexchanging ranging and location data among peer-to-peer devices usingpeer-to-peer connections in accordance with one or more embodiments ofthe disclosure. At exchange 405, a secure peer-to-peer connection may beestablished between user device 105A and user device 105B. In someembodiments, the secure peer-to-peer connection may be established usingany known techniques for secure connections for peer-to-peer devices. Atexchange 410, the MAC 222B may request ranging and/or location data fromuser device 105A by transmitting a request frame. At exchange 415, theMAC 222A may provide the requested ranging and/or location data in aresponse frame. In some embodiments, the data exchanged between userdevice 105A and 105B are protected and/or encrypted as a result oftransmitting the data over a secure peer-to-peer connection (e.g., theoperating channel of the secure peer-to-peer connection).

FIG. 5 is a data flow diagram of an illustrative method 500 forexchanging ranging and location data among peer-to-peer devices usingfine timing measurement techniques in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure. At exchanges 505A and 505B, the MAC 222Aof user device 105A and the MAC 222B of user device 105B may broadcastand receive respective synchronization beacon frames. In someembodiments, the synchronization beacon frames may be used to ensuretime synchronization within a NAN cluster. In some embodiments,synchronization beacon frames may be transmitted during a discoverywindow of the NAN cluster. At exchange 510, one or more application(s)218A may transmit a message to the MAC 222A to advertise or publish aservice available on user device 105A. At exchange 515, one or moreapplications(s) 218B may transmit a message to the MAC 222B to find aspecific service based on one or more specified criteria. At exchange520, NAN service discovery frames may be exchanged between user device105A and 105B. In some embodiments, the subscriber (e.g., user device105B) may be in active mode and solicit services by broadcasting a NANservice discovery frame to solicit services. At exchange 525, the MACmodule 222A may receive NAN service discovery frame from 105B and mayperform local matching (e.g., service identifier matching, comparingspecified criteria from the request to characteristics of the availableservice) to identify whether the services requested by the user device105B match the services available on user device 105A. At exchange 530,the MAC 222B may transmit an indication to the one or more requestingapplication(s) 218B the results obtained from the PUBLISH messagereceived from user device 105A in response to the SUBSCRIBE message fromuser device 105B. At exchange 535, the MAC 222B may request rangingand/or location data from user device 105A by transmitting a requestframe. At exchange 540, the MAC 222A may determine the ranging datausing fine time measuring (FTM) techniques to determine the approximatedistance between user device 105A and user device 105B by measuring thetime delay based on messages exchanged between the devices. In someembodiments, MAC 222A may calculate the approximate ranging data and maythen transmit the calculated data in a response frame transmitted touser device 105B. In some embodiments, a request frame may not benecessary as the request to receive FTM ranging data may be indicated inthe NAN service discovery frame at exchange 520.

FIG. 6 is a process flow diagram of an illustrative method forexchanging ranging and location data among peer-to-peer devices inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. At block 605,the MAC a first NAN-enabled user device 105A may synchronize time with asecond NAN-enabled user devices 105B. The NAN discovery engine 220 ofthe first user device 105A may generate and broadcast a synchronizationbeacon frame to NAN-enabled user devices in close proximity to the userdevice 105A. The synchronization beacon frame may be sent during thediscovery windows of the NAN-enabled user devices 105 and may ensuretime synchronization within a NAN cluster of user device(s) 105.

At block 610, a NAN service discovery frame may be generated by thefirst user device 105A. The NAN service discovery frame may be generatedby the NAN discovery engine 220 of the first user device 105A. At block615, the NAN service discovery frame may be transmitted by the firstuser device 105A. In some embodiments, the NAN discovery frame may bebroadcast to the NAN cluster of user device(s) 105 by the MAC with NANsupport module 222 of the first user device 105A. In some embodiments,the NAN cluster of user device(s) 105 may include the second user device105B, which may receive the NAN service discovery frame broadcast by thefirst user device 105A. The NAN service discovery frame may betransmitted in the discovery windows of the NAN cluster of user devices105.

At block 620, a request frame may be received from the second userdevice 105B. In some embodiments, the NAN discovery engine 220 of thesecond user device 105B may receive the NAN service discovery frame fromthe first user device 105A and may identify the discovery window andtransmit the request frame during discovery window.

At block 625, a response frame may be generated and transmitted to thesecond user device 105B that sent the request frame. In someembodiments, the response frame may include ranging and/or location dataassociated with the first user device 105A. In some embodiments, theresponse frame may be transmitted through the FTM techniques describedherein or via an establish P2P connection between the NAN-enabled userdevices 105A, 105B. In some embodiments, the NAN discovery engine 220 ofthe second user device 105B may process the response frame to obtain theranging and/or location data and make the data available to one or moreapplications 218 of the user device 105B.

In one embodiment, a computer-readable medium may storecomputer-executable instructions which, that when executed by aprocessor, may cause the processor to perform operations comprisingsynchronizing, by a first user device, a time associated with a seconduser device; generating, by the first user device, a neighbor awarenessnetwork (NAN) service discovery frame comprising channel and time slotinformation; transmitting, by the first user device, the NAN servicediscovery frame to the second user device; receiving, by the first userdevice from the second user device, a request frame for ranging orlocation information of the first device or a second NAN servicediscovery frame comprising a request for the ranging and locationinformation of the first device; and transmitting, by the first userdevice, a response frame comprising the ranging or location informationin response to receiving the request frame or the second NAN servicediscovery frame.

In one aspect of an embodiment, the request frame and the response framemay be encrypted. In one aspect of an embodiment, the request frame andthe response frame may be public action frames. In one aspect of anembodiment, the first user device may be a publisher. In one aspect ofan embodiment, the second user device may be a subscriber. In one aspectof an embodiment, synchronizing the time associated with the second userdevice may further comprise transmitting, by the first user device, asynchronization beacon to the second user device in a discovery windowof the NAN. In one aspect of an embodiment, the operations may furthercomprise transmitting, by the first user device, a discovery beaconframe at periodic intervals, wherein the discovery beacon framecomprises information associated with a discovery window of a NAN.

In another embodiment, a method may comprise synchronizing, by a firstuser device, a time associated with a second user device; generating, bythe first user device, a neighbor awareness network (NAN) servicediscovery frame comprising channel and time slot information;transmitting, by the first user device, the NAN service discovery frameto the second user device; receiving, by the first user device from thesecond user device, a request frame for ranging or location informationof the first device or a second NAN service discovery frame comprising arequest for the ranging and location information of the first device;and transmitting, by the first user device, a response frame comprisingthe ranging or location information in response to receiving the requestframe or the second NAN service discovery frame.

In one aspect of an embodiment, the request frame and the response framemay be encrypted. In one aspect of an embodiment, the request frame andthe response frame may be public action frames. In one aspect of anembodiment, the first user device may be a publisher. In one aspect ofan embodiment, the second user device may be a subscriber. In one aspectof an embodiment, synchronizing the time associated with the second userdevice further comprises transmitting, by the first user device, asynchronization beacon to the second user device in a discovery windowof the NAN. In one aspect of an embodiment, the method may furthercomprise transmitting, by the first user device, a discovery beaconframe at periodic intervals, wherein the discovery beacon framecomprises information associated with a discovery window of a NAN.

In another embodiment, a device may include at least one antenna; atleast one transceiver; at least one memory storing computer-executableinstructions; and at least one processor, wherein the at least oneprocessor is configured to access the at least one memory and to executethe computer-executable instructions to synchronize a time associatedwith a user device; generate a neighbor awareness network (NAN) servicediscovery frame comprising channel and time slot information; transmitthe NAN service discovery frame to the user device; receive, from theuser device, a request frame for ranging or location information of thefirst device or a second NAN service discovery frame comprising arequest for the ranging and location information; and transmit aresponse frame comprising the ranging or location information inresponse to receiving the request frame or the second NAN servicediscovery frame.

In one aspect of an embodiment, the request frame and the response framemay be encrypted. In one aspect of an embodiment, the request frame andthe response frame may be public action frames. In one aspect of anembodiment, the device may be a publisher. In one aspect of anembodiment, the user device may be a subscriber. In one aspect of anembodiment, synchronizing the time associated with the second userdevice may further comprise transmitting a synchronization beacon to theuser device in a discovery window of the NAN. In one aspect of anembodiment, at least one processor may be configured to access at leastone memory and to execute the computer-executable instructions totransmit a discovery beacon frame at periodic intervals, wherein thediscovery beacon frame comprises information associated with a discoverywindow of a NAN. In one aspect of an embodiments, the first user devicemay be a publisher and the second user device may be a subscriber.

In another embodiment, a system may comprise at least one antenna; atleast one transceiver; at least one memory storing computer-executableinstructions; and at least one processor, wherein the at least oneprocessor is configured to access the at least one memory and to executethe computer-executable instructions to synchronize a time associatedwith a user device of a neighbor awareness network (NAN); generate a NANservice discovery frame comprising channel and time slot information;transmit the NAN service discovery frame to the user device; receive,from the user device, a request frame for ranging or locationinformation of the first device or a second NAN service discovery framecomprising a request for the ranging and location information; andtransmit a response frame comprising the ranging or location informationin response to receiving the request frame or the second NAN servicediscovery frame.

In one aspect of an embodiment, the request frame and the response framemay be encrypted. In one aspect of an embodiment, the request frame andthe response frame may be public action frames. In one aspect of anembodiment, the response frame may be transmitted in response to therequest frame or the second NAN service discovery frame from the seconduser device. In one aspect of an embodiment, to synchronize the timeassociated with the user device, the at least one processor may beconfigured to access the at least one memory and to execute thecomputer-executable instructions to transmit a synchronization beacon tothe user device in a discovery window of the NAN. In one aspect of anembodiment, at least one processor may be configured to access the atleast one memory and to execute the computer-executable instructions totransmit a discovery beacon frame at periodic intervals, wherein thediscovery beacon frame comprises information associated with a discoverywindow of a NAN. In one aspect of an embodiment, the first user devicemay be a publisher and the second user device may be a subscriber.

In another embodiment, a system may include a means for synchronizing,by a first user device of a neighbor awareness network (NAN), a timeassociated with a second user device of the NAN; a means for generatinga NAN service discovery frame comprising channel and time slotinformation; a means for transmitting the NAN service discovery frame tothe second user device; a means for receiving, from the second userdevice, a request frame for ranging or location information of the firstdevice or a second NAN service discovery frame comprising a request forthe ranging and location information of the first device; and a meansfor transmitting a response frame comprising the ranging or locationinformation in response to receiving the request frame or the second NANservice discovery frame.

In one aspect of an embodiment, the request frame and the response framemay be encrypted. In one aspect of an embodiment, the request frame andthe response frame may be public action frames. In one aspect of anembodiment, the first user device may be a publisher. In one aspect ofan embodiment, the second user device may be a subscriber. In one aspectof an embodiment, the means for synchronizing the time associated withthe second user device may further comprise a means for transmitting asynchronization beacon to the second user device in a discovery windowof the NAN. In one aspect of an embodiment, the system may include ameans for transmitting a discovery beacon frame at periodic intervals,wherein the discovery beacon frame comprises information associated witha discovery window of the NAN.

In another embodiment, an apparatus may include at least one antenna; atleast one transceiver; at least one memory storing computer-executableinstructions; and at least one processor, wherein the at least oneprocessor is configured to access the at least one memory and to executethe computer-executable instructions to synchronize a time associatedwith a user device of a neighbor awareness network (NAN); receive a NANservice discovery frame comprising channel and time slot information;transmit, to the user device based at least in part on the NAN servicediscovery frame, a request frame comprising a request for ranging orlocation information or a second NAN service discovery frame comprisingthe request for the ranging or location information; and receive aresponse frame comprising the ranging or location information.

In one aspect of an embodiment, the request frame and the response framemay be encrypted. In one aspect of an embodiment, the request frame andthe response frame may be public action frames. In one aspect of anembodiment, to synchronize the time associated with the user device, theat least one processor may be configured to access the at least onememory and to execute the computer-executable instructions to transmit asynchronization beacon to the user device in a discovery window of theNAN. In one aspect of an embodiment, the at least one processor may beconfigured to access the at least one memory and to execute thecomputer-executable instructions to transmit a discovery beacon frame atperiodic intervals, wherein the discovery beacon frame comprisesinformation associated with a discovery window of a NAN.

CONCLUSION

It should be appreciated that the program modules, applications,computer-executable instructions, code, or the like depicted in thisdisclosure as being stored in data storage are merely illustrative andnot exhaustive and that processing described as being supported by anyparticular module may alternatively be distributed across multiplemodules or performed by a different module. In addition, various programmodule(s), script(s), plug-in(s), Application Programming Interface(s)(API(s)), or any other suitable computer-executable code hosted locallyon a device (e.g., user device 105), and/or hosted on other computingdevice(s) accessible via one or more networks, may be provided tosupport functionality provided by the program modules, applications, orcomputer-executable code depicted herein and/or additional or alternatefunctionality. Further, functionality may be modularized differentlysuch that processing described as being supported collectively by thecollection of program modules described herein may be performed by afewer or greater number of modules, or functionality described as beingsupported by any particular module may be supported, at least in part,by another module. In addition, program modules that support thefunctionality described herein may form part of one or more applicationsexecutable across any number of systems or devices in accordance withany suitable computing model such as, for example, a client-servermodel, a peer-to-peer model, and so forth. In addition, any of thefunctionality described as being supported by any of the program modulesdescribed herein may be implemented, at least partially, in hardwareand/or firmware across any number of devices.

It should further be appreciated that a device (e.g., user device 105)may include alternate and/or additional hardware, software, or firmwarecomponents beyond those described or depicted without departing from thescope of the disclosure. More particularly, it should be appreciatedthat software, firmware, or hardware components depicted as forming partof the device (e.g., user device 105) are merely illustrative and thatsome components may not be present or additional components may beprovided in various embodiments. While various illustrative programmodules have been depicted and described as software modules stored indata storage, it should be appreciated that functionality described asbeing supported by the program modules may be enabled by any combinationof hardware, software, and/or firmware. It should further be appreciatedthat each of the above-mentioned modules may, in various embodiments,represent a logical partitioning of supported functionality. Thislogical partitioning is depicted for ease of explanation of thefunctionality and may not be representative of the structure ofsoftware, hardware, and/or firmware for implementing the functionality.Accordingly, it should be appreciated that functionality described asbeing provided by a particular module may, in various embodiments, beprovided at least in part by one or more other modules. Further, one ormore depicted modules may not be present in certain embodiments, whilein other embodiments, additional modules not depicted may be present andmay support at least a portion of the described functionality and/oradditional functionality. Moreover, while certain modules may bedepicted and described as sub-modules of another module, in certainembodiments, such modules may be provided as independent modules or assub-modules of other modules.

One or more operations of the methods 300-600 may have been describedabove as being performed by one or more components of a device, or morespecifically, by one or more one or more program modules executing onsuch a device. It should be appreciated, however, that any of theoperations of methods 300-600 may be performed, at least in part, in adistributed manner by one or more other devices or systems, or morespecifically, by one or more program modules, applications, or the likeexecuting on such devices. In addition, it should be appreciated thatprocessing performed in response to execution of computer-executableinstructions provided as part of an application, program module, or thelike may be interchangeably described herein as being performed by theapplication or the program module itself or by a device on which theapplication, program module, or the like is executing. While theoperations of any of the method 300 may be described in the context ofthe illustrative user device 600, it should be appreciated that suchoperations may be implemented in connection with numerous other systemconfigurations.

The operations described and depicted in the illustrative methods ofFIG. 3-6 may be carried out or performed in any suitable order asdesired in various example embodiments of the disclosure. Additionally,in certain example embodiments, at least a portion of the operations maybe carried out in parallel. Furthermore, in certain example embodiments,less, more, or different operations than those depicted in FIG. 3-6 maybe performed.

Although specific embodiments of the disclosure have been described, oneof ordinary skill in the art will recognize that numerous othermodifications and alternative embodiments are within the scope of thedisclosure. For example, any of the functionality and/or processingcapabilities described with respect to a particular device or componentmay be performed by any other device or component. Further, whilevarious illustrative implementations and architectures have beendescribed in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure, one ofordinary skill in the art will appreciate that numerous othermodifications to the illustrative implementations and architecturesdescribed herein are also within the scope of this disclosure.

Certain aspects of the disclosure are described above with reference toblock and flow diagrams of systems, methods, apparatuses, and/orcomputer program products according to example embodiments. It will beunderstood that one or more blocks of the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and the flowdiagrams, respectively, may be implemented by execution ofcomputer-executable program instructions. Likewise, some blocks of theblock diagrams and flow diagrams may not necessarily need to beperformed in the order presented, or may not necessarily need to beperformed at all, according to some embodiments. Further, additionalcomponents and/or operations beyond those depicted in blocks of theblock and/or flow diagrams may be present in certain embodiments.

Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams supportcombinations of means for performing the specified functions,combinations of elements or steps for performing the specifiedfunctions, and program instruction means for performing the specifiedfunctions. It will also be understood that each block of the blockdiagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the blockdiagrams and flow diagrams, may be implemented by special-purpose,hardware-based computer systems that perform the specified functions,elements or steps, or combinations of special-purpose hardware andcomputer instructions.

Program modules, applications, or the like disclosed herein may includeone or more software components including, for example, softwareobjects, methods, data structures, or the like. Each such softwarecomponent may include computer-executable instructions that, responsiveto execution, cause at least a portion of the functionality describedherein (e.g., one or more operations of the illustrative methodsdescribed herein) to be performed.

A software component may be coded in any of a variety of programminglanguages. An illustrative programming language may be a lower-levelprogramming language such as an assembly language associated with aparticular hardware architecture and/or operating system platform. Asoftware component comprising assembly language instructions may requireconversion into executable machine code by an assembler prior toexecution by the hardware architecture and/or platform.

Another example programming language may be a higher-level programminglanguage that may be portable across multiple architectures. A softwarecomponent comprising higher-level programming language instructions mayrequire conversion to an intermediate representation by an interpreteror a compiler prior to execution.

Other examples of programming languages include, but are not limited to,a macro language, a shell or command language, a job control language, ascript language, a database query or search language, or a reportwriting language. In one or more example embodiments, a softwarecomponent comprising instructions in one of the foregoing examples ofprogramming languages may be executed directly by an operating system orother software component without having to be first transformed intoanother form.

A software component may be stored as a file or other data storageconstruct. Software components of a similar type or functionally relatedmay be stored together such as, for example, in a particular directory,folder, or library. Software components may be static (e.g.,pre-established or fixed) or dynamic (e.g., created or modified at thetime of execution).

Software components may invoke or be invoked by other softwarecomponents through any of a wide variety of mechanisms. Invoked orinvoking software components may comprise other custom-developedapplication software, operating system functionality (e.g., devicedrivers, data storage (e.g., file management) routines, other commonroutines and services, etc.), or third-party software components (e.g.,middleware, encryption, or other security software, database managementsoftware, file transfer or other network communication software,mathematical or statistical software, image processing software, andformat translation software).

Software components associated with a particular solution or system mayreside and be executed on a single platform or may be distributed acrossmultiple platforms. The multiple platforms may be associated with morethan one hardware vendor, underlying chip technology, or operatingsystem. Furthermore, software components associated with a particularsolution or system may be initially written in one or more programminglanguages, but may invoke software components written in anotherprogramming language.

Computer-executable program instructions may be loaded onto aspecial-purpose computer or other particular machine, a processor, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a particularmachine, such that execution of the instructions on the computer,processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus causes one ormore functions or operations specified in the flow diagrams to beperformed. These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable storage medium (CRSM) that upon execution may direct acomputer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function ina particular manner, such that the instructions stored in thecomputer-readable storage medium produce an article of manufactureincluding instruction means that implement one or more functions oroperations specified in the flow diagrams. The computer programinstructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus to cause a series of operational elements orsteps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus toproduce a computer-implemented process.

Additional types of CRSM that may be present in any of the devicesdescribed herein may include, but are not limited to, programmablerandom access memory (PRAM), SRAM, DRAM, RAM, ROM, electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memorytechnology, compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatiledisc (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape,magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any othermedium which can be used to store the information and which can beaccessed. Combinations of any of the above are also included within thescope of CRSM. Alternatively, computer-readable communication media(CRCM) may include computer-readable instructions, program modules, orother data transmitted within a data signal, such as a carrier wave, orother transmission. However, as used herein, CRSM does not include CRCM.

Although embodiments have been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the disclosure is not necessarily limited to the specific featuresor acts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosedas illustrative forms of implementing the embodiments. Conditionallanguage, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or “may,”unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within thecontext as used, is generally intended to convey that certainembodiments could include, while other embodiments do not include,certain features, elements, and/or steps. Thus, such conditionallanguage is not generally intended to imply that features, elements,and/or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments or thatone or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with orwithout user input or prompting, whether these features, elements,and/or steps are included or are to be performed in any particularembodiment.

What is claimed is:
 1. An initiator neighbor aware networking (NAN)device to perform ranging operations, the initiator NAN devicecomprising one or more processors and storage, the one or moreprocessors coupled to the storage, the one or more processors configuredto: cause to send a first NAN service discovery frame indicating a firstfrequency band and a first time slot to a first responder NAN device,and a second frequency band and a second time slot to a second responderNAN device; identify a second NAN service discovery frame received fromthe first responder NAN device, the second NAN service discovery frameindicating the first frequency band and the first time slot; based onthe identification of the second NAN service discovery frame, cause tosend a ranging request frame during the first time slot and using thefirst frequency band, wherein the ranging request frame comprises one ormore device addresses, and wherein a first device address of the one ormore device addresses is associated with the first responder NAN device;identify a ranging response frame received from the first responder NANdevice; perform a fine timing measurement associated with the firstresponder NAN device; and determine, based on the fine timingmeasurement, a distance between the initiator NAN device and the firstresponder NAN device.
 2. The initiator NAN device of claim 1, whereinthe first NAN service discovery frame is unsolicited.
 3. The initiatorNAN device of claim 1, wherein the first NAN service discovery framefurther indicates a time associated with the ranging request frame. 4.The initiator NAN device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processorsare further configured to: determine, based on the second NAN servicediscovery frame, a ranging capability associated with the firstresponder NAN device, wherein to cause to send the ranging request frameis based on the determination of the ranging capability associated withthe first responder NAN device.
 5. The initiator NAN device of claim 1,wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determinethat the initiator NAN device is to send a ranging report.
 6. Theinitiator NAN device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors arefurther configured to determine that the ranging response framecomprises an indication of location information associated with thefirst responder NAN device.
 7. The initiator NAN device of claim 1,further comprising a transceiver configured to transmit and receivewireless signals, wherein the wireless signals comprise at least one ofthe ranging request frame or the ranging response frame.
 8. Theinitiator NAN device of claim 7, further comprising at least one antennacoupled to the transceiver.
 9. The initiator NAN device of claim 1,wherein the first NAN service discovery frame further indicates aranging capability.
 10. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumstoring computer-executable instructions which when executed by one ormore processors result in performing operations comprising: identifying,at a first responder neighbor awareness networking (NAN) device of oneor more responder NAN devices, a first NAN service discovery framereceived from an initiator NAN device, the first NAN service discoveryframe indicating a first frequency band and a first time slot; causingto send a second NAN service discovery frame to the initiator NANdevice, the second NAN service discovery frame indicating the firstfrequency band and the first time slot; identifying, at the firstresponder NAN device, a ranging request frame received from theinitiator NAN device during the first time slot and using the firstfrequency band based on the second NAN service discovery frame, whereinthe ranging request frame comprises one or more device addresses, andwherein a first device address of the one or more device addresses isassociated with the first responder NAN device; determining that theranging request frame indicates location information associated with theinitiator NAN device; causing to send a ranging response frame to theinitiator NAN device; and performing a fine timing measurementassociated with the initiator NAN device.
 11. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the first NAN servicediscovery frame is unsolicited.
 12. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 10, wherein the first NAN service discovery framefurther indicates a time associated with the ranging request frame. 13.The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, the operationsfurther comprising determining that the initiator NAN device is to senda ranging report.
 14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 10, wherein the first NAN service discovery frame furtherindicates a ranging capability.
 15. A method comprising: causing tosend, by one or more processors of an initiator neighbor awarenessnetworking (NAN) device, a first NAN service discovery frame indicatinga first frequency band and a first time slot to a first responder NANdevice, and a second frequency band and a second time slot to a secondresponder NAN device; identifying, by the one or more processors, asecond NAN service discovery frame received from the first responder NANdevice, the second NAN service discovery frame indicating the firstfrequency band and the first time slot; causing to send, by the one ormore processors, based on the identification of the second NAN servicediscovery frame, a ranging request frame, wherein the ranging requestframe comprises one or more device addresses, and wherein a first deviceaddress of the one or more device addresses is associated with the firstresponder NAN device; identifying, by the one or more processors, aranging response frame received from the first responder NAN device;performing, by the one or more processors, a fine timing measurementassociated with the first responder NAN device; and determining, by theone or more processors and based on the fine timing measurement, adistance between the initiator NAN device and the first responder NANdevice.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first NAN servicediscovery frame is unsolicited.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein thefirst NAN service discovery frame further indicates a time associatedwith the ranging request frame.
 18. The method of claim 15, wherein themethod further comprises: determining, based on the second NAN servicediscovery frame, a ranging capability associated with the firstresponder NAN device, wherein to cause to send the ranging request frameis based on the determination of the ranging capability associated withthe first responder NAN device.
 19. The method of claim 15, wherein thefirst NAN service discovery frame further indicates a rangingcapability.